Dash Cam - Which one?

Author
Discussion

NiceCupOfTea

25,280 posts

250 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
I've thought of that, but the battery life is poor enough as it is! Plus, bluetooth, satnav, and possibly phone duties while driving are enough of a strain on it...

Having said that, is there any Android software worth trying?

Wafflesmk2

1,347 posts

153 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
post so can read later.

FisiP1

1,279 posts

152 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
GoPro is a good camera but a terrible in-car mic if you care about that..

A Zoom H1 audio recorder+GoPro is a good all-round kit if you want some versatility.

SturdyHSV

10,083 posts

166 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
NiceCupOfTea said:
Having said that, is there any Android software worth trying?
Android software to record video? Or have I missed the point?

Look at Torque if you want to go nuts.

There's a track day plugin, this'll give you the video, optionally overlay a googlemap over the top, and assuming you have a bluetooth OBDII port in there, could overlay any ECU related information you fancied, such as speed, mpg, throttle position...

Could be a lot cheaper solution, and give you some nice toy functionality too.

It'll also read and clear ECU fault codes.

OBDII bluetooth adapter is about £15, the app is free, or ~£2 for full version, the track day plug-in is maybe 60p if it isn't just included already. In car charger for a few quid...

barmonkey

652 posts

176 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
There's an app on the Android Market called Daily Roads Voyager for this - I have it on mine but can't use it on long journeys as it uses a hell of a lot of battery power. Not bad for a free app though.

NiceCupOfTea

25,280 posts

250 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
Cheers guys. Daily roads looks good, but as said it will nuke the battery and I prefer a standalone solution (done the phone satnav thing as well and my conclusion is that it's just too much to expect a phone to do reliably)

redgriff500

26,765 posts

262 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
I was in PC World or Comet the other day and was shocked how cheap some of the camcorders are.

From £15 with a screen - I found the problem with the Mini DVR type is you're not sure what you're actually capturing.

This on Ebay looks hard to beat for the price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VIVITAR-400-DIGITAL-VIDE...

NiceCupOfTea

25,280 posts

250 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
That's very cheap, but it's only VGA(?) resolution and runs on AAAs rather than rechargeable which is a dealbreaker for me I'm afraid...

redgriff500

26,765 posts

262 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
Take a look at the 615 it claims to be HD but you get what you pay for really (approx £20 on Ebay)

Can't be too hard to hard wire a charger into it.

busta

4,504 posts

232 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
barmonkey said:
There's an app on the Android Market called Daily Roads Voyager for this - I have it on mine but can't use it on long journeys as it uses a hell of a lot of battery power. Not bad for a free app though.
Just had a play with this- great app! It can even run in the background with buttons overlaid over other apps to activate recording. I have a 12v phone charger (doesn't everyone?) so no problems with battery life.

GC8

19,910 posts

189 months

Tuesday 3rd April 2012
quotequote all
KardioKate said:
Hello to the good folk of PH.

I'm looking at acquiring a dash cam. I'm not looking at spending much - as little as possible ideally. Just something so I can get some feedback on my driving in the AD forum!

Any experiences with certain makes?

Thany Manks.
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_1&products_id=111548

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Wednesday 4th April 2012
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busta said:
Just had a play with this- great app! It can even run in the background with buttons overlaid over other apps to activate recording. I have a 12v phone charger (doesn't everyone?) so no problems with battery life.
I guess it may vary with chargers, but I've used USB ones which can't charge the phone as fast it's using battery when browsing the web, so might struggle running camera and satnav.

Negative Creep

24,942 posts

226 months

Wednesday 4th April 2012
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KardioKate said:
mat777 said:
Many of us use these as helmet cams when karting:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MD80-Mini-DV-DVR-Sports-...
Thanks - that's right at the lower end of things. Do you know of any youtube videos taken with one of these?
Anyone know how much footage something like that would hold?

v8will

3,301 posts

195 months

Wednesday 4th April 2012
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james_tigerwoods said:
I have one of those, surprisingly good little bit of kit.

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Wednesday 4th April 2012
quotequote all
It's a while since I used my MD80 but I seem to remember I was getting about an hour or so from a charge, and 3 or 4 hours video on a 4GB card. They charge from mini-USB but I never checked if I could record while charging.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Thursday 26th April 10:14

supersingle

3,205 posts

218 months

Thursday 26th April 2012
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I've just bought this.

I do lots of miles and want it to protect me from the "crash for cash" scammers. It's supposed to record a continuous loop, so ideal as a fit and forget option. Hopefully it's decent quality at only £30. I'll post back when I've tried it.


DanDC5

18,747 posts

166 months

Thursday 26th April 2012
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SturdyHSV said:
Thinking outside the box, but still inside the 'budget' box...

Could you not just mount your presumably video recording capable phone and record a video that way?

Can get a suitable mount that doesn't block the camera, and job's jobbed.
This.

There's a few datalogging apps you can get now aswell, a few even connect to usb obd2 ports (usually around the £10-£15 mark) so you can see throttle inputs, revs, speed etc etc.

Pistachio

1,116 posts

189 months

Thursday 26th April 2012
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Sod Dash Cams what about thiswoohoo

All that jazz

7,632 posts

145 months

Thursday 26th April 2012
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Guys, check out Matt's review blog - he does a lot of reviews on these. Techmoan. The 'two smart cams for your car' review (currently 2nd one down) is pretty good and cheap for HD quality.

bicycleshorts

1,939 posts

160 months

Thursday 26th April 2012
quotequote all
supersingle said:
I've just bought this.

I do lots of miles and want it to protect me from the "crash for cash" scammers. It's supposed to record a continuous loop, so ideal as a fit and forget option. Hopefully it's decent quality at only £30. I'll post back when I've tried it.
Let me know how you find it, one of the things I don't like about MD80 is you have no idea where it's pointing till after you watch the video.